God’s Word for You Today, Volume 1: A Walk Through God’s Word — Genesis to Revelation in 100

E N D O R S E M E N T S

Steve embodies what it means to love God and love others. As a gifted storyteller with a unique ability to teach biblical truths in practical ways, Steve has helped me experience God’s presence and promises in my life. I have found myself laughing and crying as God has encouraged and convicted me as well as many others in our church community through Steve’s writing. I highly recommend this book.

—Rev. Steve Southards Lead Pastor, Salem Church

Clayton, Ohio

With the heart of the Father and the tenderness of a friend, Pastor Steve Chiles through the art of storytelling will touch your heart, speak truth in love, cheer you on in your journey of faith, and motivate you through the wisdom of the Scriptures to be the person God created you to be.

—Rev. Brenda Snedden Lead Pastor,

Oil City Church of God

Oil City, Pennsylvania

"Pastor Steve Chiles brings you a compiled and inspirational devotional from the Word of God that reveals God’s mind, purpose, and will for you and me. God’s Word for You Today will fill your mind with faith, your heart with truth, and will delight your soul. It is a must-have in your spiritual journey."

—Rev. Salvador Hernandez Pastor,

Centro Cristiano en Shartel

Oklahoma City Regional Director, Concilio Sur-Centro

"God’s Word for You Today challenges and encourages me to live out daily the truth of God’s Word. Pastor Steve is an anointed word craftsman and effective communicator. His down-to-earth imagery and literary giftedness shine the light of God’s Spirit into the dark places of the heart, bringing hope and comfort. You too will be inspired and empowered as you read God’s Word for You Today."

—Dr. Sheryl White Author, Underground Angel

Development Coordinator, Youth Core Ministries

Steve Chiles is an able writer. Steve is able to connect the truth of scripture to the everyday experiences we face in life. If you are like me, you will wonder how his devotional writings and reflections are often just what you needed from God’s Word on the day you read them. His real-life stories and biblical insights will bless you. I love the way Steve ends each devotion with That’s God’s Word for you today, because I think you will discover that it is God’s Word for you today.

—Dr. Cliff Sanders Chair, School of Ministry

Mid-America Christian University

Copyright ©2019 by Steve Chiles

Published by Dust Jacket Press

God’s Word for You Today, Volume 1: A Walk Through God’s Word — Genesis to Revelation in 100 Devotionals / Steve Chiles

ISBN (E-book): 978-1-947671-63-8

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without prior permission of Steve Chiles. Requests may be submitted by email: sechiles@aol.com

Dust Jacket Press

P.O. Box 721243

Oklahoma City, OK 73172

www.dustjacket.com

All Scripture quotations not otherwise designated are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT), copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Permission to quote from the following additional copyrighted version of the Bible is acknowledged with appreciation: Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotation marked KJV is from the King James Version of the Bible.

Dust Jacket logos are registered trademarks of Dust Jacket Press, Inc.

Cover and interior design: D. E. West / ZAQ Designs & Dust Jacket Creative Services

Printed in the United States of America

Published by Dust Jacket Press at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

w w w . d u s t j a c k e t . c o m

C O N T E N T S

Cover

Endorsements

Title

Foreword

Introduction

1. Blessed to Be a Blessing!

2. When Your Mess Becomes God’s Miracle

3. When the Tide Turns Against You

4. Your Fight, His Power

5. Our Daily Bread

6. A Glimpse of Golgotha

7. Like Father, Like Sons

8. The Blessing

9. What You See Is What You Get!

10. Love or Obedience?

11. Choose Life!

12. Be Strong and Courageous!

13. Keep Walking

14. It’s Not About You

15. Failure Isn’t Final

16. The Treasure of a Real Friend

17. An Old Softie

18. It’s All Handicapped Seating

19. It’s Not in the Genes—It’s in the Choices

20 Keep Looking!

21. It’s All His

22. Just Turn Around

23. He’s Working

24. Never-ending Problems, Never-ending God

25. Two Moves Ahead

26. Just Let It Go

27. When It All Comes Crashing Down

28. The Healing Power of Just Being There

29. Closer than You Think

30. He Is What You’re Looking For!

31. Overcoming Spiritual Spatial Disorientation

32. Eagles or Turkeys?

33. Quit Flying Solo!

34. Hopelessly in Love

35. An Insurmountable Debt

36. He’s More than You Think!

37. Grace Before You Know You Need It

38. It’s All on Him

39. At the Crossroads

40. Has God Got a Plan for You!

41. An Everyday Gift

42. Close Encounters of the God Kind

43. Can These Bones Live?

44. Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

45. God Is Able!

46. Ridiculously Loved

47. Anything!

48. Inside the Fish

49. No Other Gods like Ours!

50. The Storm Shelter

51. You Wouldn’t Believe It Anyway

52. Inside-Out Praise

53. You Make God Sing

54. The Glory Days

55. Leading and Interceding

56. The Healer Is Here!

57. Divine Interruptions

58. Highs and Lows

59. The Man Who Amazed Jesus

60. Jesus Is Willing

61. With Before For!

62. Don’t Go It Alone

63. He Was Thinking of You

64. You’re Closer than You Think!

65. Living Out of the Overflow

66. We’re Teammates, Not Enemies

67. Welcome Home

68. He Became One of Us

69. Not Just Religious—Born Again!

70. Do You Want to Get Well?

71. Believing on the Inside

72. Faith in Those Moments

73. The Courage to Pray for Courage

74. A Monument to Our Mess

75. Are We There Yet?

76. Gorilla Glue Love

77. The Grand Pause

78. Time to Grow Up

79. The Gift That Keeps on Giving

80. The Difference Is in the Fruit

81. Loved Before You Were Born

82. One Person’s Trash Is Another Person’s Treasure

83. Who Are You Imitating?

84. The Death of a Thousand Cuts

85. Have a Nice Flight!

86. Standing Tall When Others Fall

87. Be an Epaphras

88. God’s Unwanted Promise

89. Finding God’s Will

90. Hope Is the Difference

91. You, Me, and Jeffrey Dahmer

92. The Greatest Mission Field Is in Your Lap

93. Tough Love for Toxic People

94. Love Does

95. Jesus Has Been There

96. Treat Them All like Angels!

97. Google and God

98. The Higher, Harder Road

99. No Good Guys and Bad Guys

100. When All Our Differences Fade Away

About the Author

F O R E W O R D

In a world full of clutter, chatter, and relentless bombardment of negative and opposing views, I thank God for utilizing Pastor Steve’s ability to place the spotlight squarely on God’s pure and unadulterated love and guidance for each of us. Much like the little colored spy glass that comes with some of the seek and find books that we’ve looked at with our children, God has utilized Steve’s daily devotionals in my life to help me ignore all of the stuff that clutters my mind and my world and to focus squarely on God’s freeing and empowering truths needed for the day.

As an adjunct professor of adult studies, I find that reading Steve’s pragmatic and applicable devotional for the day at the beginning of a night class to adult students (most with families) who have come to class straight from work allows them to detox, recalibrate, and relax in the soothing reality of God’s all-consuming love. I can almost sense each of them taking a deep breath as they free their minds to take on the evening’s new challenge.

I pray that you too will experience God’s perfect love expressed in such a relatable manner in the pages of this book.

– Shirley Roddy, Ph.D.

Founding and former Dean of the College of Adult and Graduate Studies and former Dean of Scholarship and Study Abroad, Mid-America Christian University; Adjunct professor in adult studies, researcher, parishioner, wife, mother, grandmother

I N T R O D U C T I O N

I did not set out to write a book. My goal was to help the people in my congregation experience God by spending a few moments reflecting on a verse or two of Scripture. So I started writing daily devotionals that I could send out by email.

That was four years ago. I’ve been writing them every day since. At the encouragement of a young man from back East, I started posting the devotionals on Facebook so a wider audience could enjoy them. God’s Word for You Today was born.

The responses I’ve received to the devotionals have been beyond anything I imagined. Every day I receive emails, texts, or comments on Facebook from someone saying how that day’s devotional was just for them. God has an amazing ability to give us just what we need when we need it.

Just this week a woman posted on my Facebook page that she had been planning to end her own life that night. But God directed her to the devotional and He used it to give her the hope and comfort she needed in that very desperate moment. I believe with all my heart that God saw her, heard her, and directed her, just as He did me when I wrote it. That’s how awesome God’s love is for us. That’s how awesome His love is for you!

This first God’s Word for You Today book is designed to take you on a journey through the Bible in one hundred daily reflections. Beginning in Genesis and ending in Revelation, you will discover that God had you on His heart all through history. My prayer is that God will inspire you, challenge you, comfort you, and heal you. But most of all I pray that God will change you.

So sit with Him for a few moments each day and let the power of His Word speak to you. Open your heart and allow the God who made you to restore you, renew you, and breathe into you a fresh new breath of life.

And don’t be surprised if as you’re reading a particular devotional on a given day, it seems to be exactly what you need in that moment. It’s just God letting you know He hears your prayer before you even speak and that He loves you more than you will ever know. May that love overwhelm you and draw you close to your Father’s heart. That’s God’s Word for you today.

1

BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING!

GENESIS 12:1–4

All the families on earth will be blessed through you.

(Genesis 12:3)

What’s in it for me?" Ever ask that question? Maybe that’s why we have a hard time figuring out what God’s up to in our lives. We keep thinking it’s all about us.

But what if it’s not? What if God’s view of the world doesn’t stop with me? What if God is actually concerned about them? When God called Abram to leave his father’s homeland and follow Him, there were definitely some perks in it for him. He would be famous, rich and have kids. Oh, well—at least the first two are blessings! But what God was up to with Abram really wasn’t about Abram. It was about a world He would bless. Through Abram’s obedience God would lay a foundation of faith that is still being played out in the lives of people today. Abram’s journey had a lot of ups and downs and I’m sure there were days he was wondering why in the world he had left his homeland.

The answer? Them. It wasn’t about Abram being comfortable or happy or free from struggle. It was about them. There was a world God wanted to change and He needed a vessel. That may be a good reminder for us. When we feel God’s leading we often think it’s about us. If God is leading me to take this job, I know I’m going to be successful! If God is leading me to teach this class, I know all the students are going to love me! If God is leading me to start this ministry, I know it’s going to be easy and fun and fulfilling. Me, me, me.

But what if it’s about them? What if being happy and comfortable and successful isn’t the primary item on God’s agenda? What if it’s about some way God wants to bless them? Sometimes you have to decide you’re going to follow God, not because you’ll be blessed but because you get to do something more sacred. You get to be a part of the blessing. You may have to decide that there’s something more rewarding than being rich or famous, and yes, even better than having kids. It’s being a part of God changing the world.

It may not seem as enticing as being rich and famous— I know. But there is something cool about the fact that your life doesn’t have to end with just you. Here we are, still talking about Abram a few thousand years later. That might be worth following God for. That’s God’s Word for you today.

Through Abram’s obedience God would lay a foundation of faith that is still being played out in the lives of people today.

2

WHEN YOUR MESS BECOMES GOD’S MIRACLE

GENESIS 45:1–8

And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

(Genesis 45:5 NIV)

Do you know what was at the beginning of time? Chaos. Then God spoke and began to make an incredible something out of a mess of nothing. And then He called it all good. That’s what we find God doing in Joseph’s life. Joseph had all these awful things that happened to him: abuse, neglect, oppression—you name it; it happened to him.

So where was God in all this? Working. He was right there in the middle of the chaos with Joseph. He was unseen but ever present. And in the end, despite all that had happened to Joseph, God’s hand and His plan were clear. Joseph was exactly where he needed to be and God was about to take the sum of the mess of Joseph’s life and make a miracle out it.

That’s what God can do for you! You may feel that you’re in a mess right now. Your life may be filled with all the horrible chaos that Joseph’s life had. You may not be able to see God anywhere. But trust me—He’s there, right there in the middle of your mess. Just beyond what you can see, God is at work. He specializes in chaos, including yours. And if you’ll trust Him with it, He’ll make something remarkable out of it. What you called awful today He can make into something good tomorrow.

So lay it before Him—all the pain, all the failures, all the wounds, all the mess. Yield it to His power, His